!£ 286 ^ ^^ ^,^-^-y ^^ 

.S32 ^^-^y^- ^ ' C^ ^:^c^^^ , 



1865 

Copy I 



ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



COMMOI COUNCIL AND CITIZENS 



CITY OF SCHENECTADY, 



JULY 4, 1865. 



By ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D. 



ADDRESS 



BICI'ORE THE 



COMMON COUNCIL AND CITIZENS 



OF THE 



CITY OF SCHENECTADY, 



JULY 4, 1S65. 



By ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D. 



ALBANY: 

VAN BENTHUYSEN'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 
1865. 



lib 5. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Schenectady, Jul]j 12th, 1865. 
Hon. A. C. Paige: 
Dear Sir — By a resolution passed at a regular meeting of the Com- 
mon Council of the City of Schenectady, I am directed to request a 
copy of the oration delivered by you on the 4th of Ju\y, for publication. 

Respectfully yours, &c., 

A. Mc:\HjLLEX, 

Mayor. 



Schenectady, July I'Hh, 1805. 

Dear Sir — In compliance with the request of the Common Council, 

I will send you a copy of my address for publication. 

Yours respectfully, 

A. C. PAIGE. 
Hon. A. McMuLLEN, Mayor, <^c. 



\ 



ADDRESS. 



Oil the 4tli July 1776, the delegates of the 
people of thirteen diistinct Colonies, occnpying 
territories on this continent, and having sever- 
ally a political existence under charters from 
successive kings of Great Britain, in General 
Congress assembled, in the name of the people of 
these Colonies, solemnly declared, " that these 
United Colonies were and of right ought to be 
free and independent States;" and "that all politi- 
cal connection between them and the State of 
Great Britain was and ought to be totally dis- 
solved." This sublime manifesto to the civil- 
ized world, was a transcendant exercise of that 
primordial and ultimate right which, under the 
laws of nature and of nature's God, belongs to 
every j)eople, to establish, alter and abolish their 
own systems of government. In the legitimate 
exercise of this imprescriptible right, the people 
of the American Colonies renounced their allegi- 
ance to the British Crown, and assumed " their 
separate and equal station among the powers of 



the earth." By the potential instrumentality of 
this grand and glorious act of political sover- 
eignty, these Colonies, lifted up from the humil- 
iating condition of colonial subjection, and trans- 
formed into free and independent States, pre- 
sented themselves to the startled gaze of the 
admiring and sympathizing masses of other 
countries, a one, united, self-constituted nation, 
proclaiming the principles upon which it was 
founded, and l)y which its creation was justified. 
This declaration of independence, was not a form 
of government and did not prescribe one. That 
great desideratum had yet to be supplemented. 
The severance from the British Empire, and the 
assumption of sovereign power, as well as the 
institution of civil government, were all acts of 
political authority wliich the people alone could 
perform. The two former were accomplished 
by the Declaration of Independence, which was 
published in the name and was the act of the 
people. In that instrument the people of the 
United Colonies assumed the obligation of insti- 
tuting a civil government to secure the rights of 
life, liberty and tlie pursuit of happiness ; rights 
declared therein to Ije iuialienal)le ; and by that 
instrument also the whole people of these Colo- 



nies, by their delegates entered into a compact 
with each citizen thereof, whereby they in effect 
covenanted with each other that the Colonies as 
United Colonies, were and of right ought to be 
without limitation as to time, free and indepen- 
dent States; and thus by necessary implication, 
they guaranteed to each other their perpetual 
union, freedom and independence. 

There still remained to be fulfilled, the obliga- 
tion to institute a civil government uj^on the 
principles set forth in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, to secure to the people of the several 
States, and to every citizen thereof, the blessings 
of liberty, and to provide for their safety and 
happiness. No system of civil government could 
effectually accomplish these objects, unless it 
combined both the elements of unity and nation- 
ality. The first attempt of Congress and the 
State Legislatures to fulfill the pledge of the 
Declaration of Independence, to institute a civil 
government, was a miserable failure. The Arti- 
cles of Confederation proposed by Congress in 
1777 and approved by the State Legislatures, in 
1778, did not embrace the elements of unity and 
nationality, and did not meet the requirements 
of the Declaration of Independence. The Con- 



6 

federacy had no power to enforce obedience to 
its own enactments, or to aid one of the States in 
suppressing insurrection within its limits, and no 
power to collect taxes, or to regulate commerce. 
It had no power to raise armies or moneys for the 
public expenses, except by requisitions upon the 
States for quotas of men or money, which they 
at their option disregarded or rejected. It had 
no executive power, and no judicial power. The 
Articles of Confederation could only act upon the 
individual citizens indirectly through the agency 
of the States. This apology for a system of gov- 
ernment w^as the joint and exclusive offspring of 
Congress and the State Legislatures. The people 
in their political capacity had no part in its ma- 
ternity. The Confederation had not a single char- 
acteristic of nationality. It is described in the 
articles as a league of friendship. Mr. John 
Quincy Adams called it an alliance of States. 
It was miserably ineffectual in accomplishing 
any of the purposes foreshadowed in the Declar- 
ation of Independence. Pul)lic credit was de- 
stroyed; public faith violated; and the union 
was in the last agonies of dissolution. Wash- 
ington in his retirement was alarmed. At Mount 
Vernon, the idea was first suggested of a revisal 



of the xVrticler^ of Confedenition, which led to 
the convent ion of 1787; to the preparation of 
our glorious Constitution, and to the ultimate 
ratification of the same, hy the whole people in 
conventions for the purpose assembled. The 
adoption of this Constitution by the people in 
virtue of their sole right of political sovereignty, 
was the birth of our nationality. It was the 
triumphant consummation of the political revo- 
lution commenced by the war and the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

This Constitution Avas made by and for the 
people, and not by the States as such. It is 
national in its character, and is clothed with the 
powers and prerogatives of nationalit3^ It is not 
a compact or league of friendship between inde- 
pendent States or a mere alliance of States, as 
were the Articles of Confederation. Its j)reroga- 
tives of nationality are the right of Congress to 
collect taxes, regulate commerce, declare war, 
raise and support armies, and to exercise the 
powers of legislation; the right of the President, 
with the consent of the Senate, to make treaties, 
to appoint the judicial and other officers of the 
United States, to suppress insurrection and repel 
invasion, and to take care that the laws are faith- 



8 

fully executed ; and the right of the judicial 
po\Yer to exercise jurisdiction over all cases 
arising under the Constitution, the laws of Con- 
gress and the treaties of the United States ; all 
of which are declared to be the supreme law of 
the land. 

We find in this Constitution all the powers del- 
egated by the people, necessary " to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domes- 
tic tranquility, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general w^elfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
terity." We find also, in the amendments to the 
Constitution, a provision that the powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
served to the States respectively or to the people. 

We do not find in this Constitution any author- 
ity — not even an approximation to an authority — 
for a State to nullify an act of Congress, or to 
secede from the Union. The Constitution is 
the Avork of the w^hole people, and not of the 
States as jDolitical corporations. It is the su- 
preme law of the land, and is paramount to all 
State Constitutions and laws. It was ratified by 
the peo23le of all the original thirteen States, and 



9 

has received the assent of, and l)een adopted by 
the peoi)le of every Sttite, which has since been 
admitted into the Union. It was a political com- 
pact, voluntarily entered into by the people of 
all the States in their individual capacities, as 
the ultimate and exclusive depositaries of polit- 
ical })ower, by which the whole people agreed 
with each citizen of the States, with the as- 
sent of the States, to establish and did estab- 
lish, a civil government; and surrendered and 
delegated to such government certain enumera- 
ted and defined powers; and thereby they in 
jjehalf of themselves and of the several States 
forever renounced the exercise of such powers. 
From the moment of the adoption of the Consti- 
tution and the institution of this government, no 
one of the States, nor any citizen or body of 
citizens of any State or of the United States, had 
the right or power to declare null and void an act 
of Congress; nor had any State the power or 
right to separate itself from the other States, or 
to secede from the Union. The right and power 
to do either of these acts had been surrendered by 
the States and by the people of the States to the 
government established by the Constitution. A 



10 

principal object of the Constitution was to form 
a more perfect union of the States. The asserted 
riffht of nullification and secession would defeat 
this object ; because it involves the right of any 
one State to abrogate the laws of Congress and 
supercede the Constitution, and to maintain such 
right by arms ; or in other words it involves the 
right to organize insurrection;' and to overthrow 
the government and dissolve the Union by phys- 
ical force. It is a claim to array the sovereignty 
of one State against the sovereignty of the Uni- 
ted States. The Union of the Colonies preceded 
the Declaration of Independence, Each State, 
and the people of each State, having parted with 
just so many powers as were necessary to create a 
single nation by an intimate Union of all the States 
and an association of the whole people of the United 
States, nullification and secession cannot under 
any possible circumstances be tolerated ; as they 
are inevitably destructive of that national unity, 
which was the object of the concession of the 
political powers, delegated to the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Secession never can be even morally 
justified, except as a right of revolution, confer- 
red by the extremity of oppression, after every 
other conceivable remedy has been exhausted. 



11 

The compact, by which the whole people and the 
States instituted the Federal Governineut, im- 
posed reciprocal and sacred obligations upon 
each. It is the duty of the States and the peo- 
ple to obey the Constitution and laws of Congress 
made in pursuance thereof. It is the solemn and 
imperative duty of the government, under all 
circumstances, toyindicate the just power of the 
Constitution ; to preserve the integrity of the 
Union, and to execute the laws by all constitu- 
tional means; by civil remedies so long as they 
avail, and, when they fail, then by physical 
force. While the Government should be always 
willing to exercise forbearance in respect to the 
errors of the people, when the exigency of an 
open and organized resistance to the laws, or to 
its constitutional authoritv demands it, it should 
never hesitate to employ force, sufficient to over- 
come it. The proposition that the general gov- 
ernment has no rightful ^^ower to coerce a State 
to jierform its constitutional obligations, is too 
preposterous for discussion. Our Constitution 
and Union are too precious and have cost too 
much, to be surrendered upon so shallow and so 
odious a doctrine. Our priceless inheritance of 
a free Constitution and regulated liberty, is a 



12 

sacred trust in our hands ; and the solemn res- 
ponsibility is upon us to transmit it unimpaired 
to our posterity. Our rallying cry must be 
" the Constitution and the laws are supreme and 
the Union indissoluble." 

There is no ground for aj)prehension in regard 
to the self sustaining vitality of our goyernment. 
The powers delegated to it are amply sufficient 
in their legitimate exercise, to provide for its 
preservation. The powers of Congress to col- 
lect taxes and to raise and support armies, and 
of the President as such and as Commander in 
Chief to see that the laws are faithfully execu- 
ted and that rebellion is suppressed and invasion 
repelled, confer not only the right, but arm the 
Government and the Executive Avith the power 
to coerce the citizens of a vState, who are attempt- 
ing to carry it out of the Union, to relinquish the 
enterprise, and resume their obligations to obey 
and sup2)ort the Constitution. So perfectly clear 
in my judgment are these propositions, that I am 
amazed that they ever should have been contro- 
yerted. We look in yain for any authority for 
the doctrine of nullification and secession in the 
expressed oj)inions or acts of the great men who 
framed the constitution. Jefferson and Madison 



denied {iiiy siieli autliority. Jackson declared 
the doctrine to be "a metaphysical subtlety in 
pursuit of an impracticable theory ; " and in his 
proclamation of Dec. ISo^ he denounced it as 
"incompatible with the existence of the Union, 
contradicted expressly by the letter of the Con- 
stitution ; unauthorized by its spirit, — inconsis- 
tent with every principle on which it was 
founded, and destructive of the great ol)jects for 
which it was formed." John Quincy Adams, 
declared that "the right of a State to nullify an 
act of Congress was too a1)surd for argument and 
too odious for discussion." 

The preposterous doctrine of nullification and 
secession, claimed l)y Southern politicians as a 
State right, has created an unjust prejudice against 
those unquestionable rights, which are expressly 
reserved by the Constitution to the States and 
the people. It has induced mistaken and erro- 
neous views in respect to the reserved rights 
of the states, even in the minds of many educa- 
ted men. Not a few scholars and statesmen have 
thus been influenced to discard the entire doc- 
trine of State rights as incompati))le with Amer- 
ican nationality ; and even to adopt such al)surd 
and latitudiuarian principles of constructi(m, 



14 

under the delusive name of implied powers, as 
would subvert the legitimate and fundamental 
rights of the States, never surrendered, and 
would aggregate in the general government, po- 
litical powers, overshadowing and imperial. 
Thus the reserved rights of the States are stig- 
matised as " the pestilent pretension of State 
rights ; " " the perverse pretension of State 
rights ; " " the miserable pretension of State sov- 
ereignty;" "the dogma and delusion of State 
rights;" as instrumental in making our nation 
a nuisance on the earth; "as the lying names of 
conservatism, State rights and State sovereignty," 
And thus it is insisted that the States of our 
Union are so incohesive ; so diremptive ; so au- 
tonomous; so slenderly conjoined; "such apiece 
of conventional patchwork," that the obliteration 
of State lines, — the abolition of State rights,- — 
and of State sovereignties, — and consolidation, 
political, geographical, and historical, can alone 
preserve American nationality. And to further 
this scheme of an imperial consolidation with 
despotic powers, we are told that the Federal 
Government, under our present Constitution, ab- 
sorbs all political sovereignty, and that no resi- 
duum, not the slightest, is left for the States ; 



15 

thiit the States are mortal ; that they may com- 
mit suicide ; that as political corporations they 
can be guilty of treason ; and that treason Ijy 
States is self destruction ; that Congress may 
abolish them; that it may declare them civilly 
dead; their rights as States forfeited; and their 
places in the Union abdicated; and that it may 
establish upon their ruins Congressional govern- 
ments. What would the great men of the revo- 
lution — what would Washington, and Hamilton, 
and Madison, and Jay, and Jeiferson, and John 
Adams, if now living, say to such opinions and 
schemes. There is not an act of their lives, nor 
a thought ever expressed by either of them, 
which countenances such political heresies as 
these. The States, and the people of the States, 
united under and by virtue of the Constitution, 
form the American Union. The Constitution 
provides for the admission of new States into the 
Union ; but it makes no provision for the oblit- 
eration or expulsion of a State. If a State can- 
not by the voluntary action of its corporate au- 
thorities or of its people, be taken out of the 
Union, — it cannot be expelled from it. The 
States are integrant and indispensable parts 
of the Union. The proposition that an act of 



16 

secession of the Legislature of a State, inoperate 
and void, is self-murder by the State, involves 
an egregious absurdity, legally, constitutionally 
and logically. Treason mny overthrow the legit- 
imate governments of the States ; and their 
functions thereby become temporarily suspended, 
but they remain existent States of the Union ; 
althouoh in abeyance, and are always in a con- 
dition at any time to be resuscitated, reorganized 
and rehabilitated by loyal hands. This work of 
resuscitation may be achieved in any State by 
loyal citizens, whether "to the manor born" or 
denizens from other States. A State is a political 
corporation, soulless and insentient. It cannot 
commit a crime — moral guilt is not imputable 
to it. If treason be perpetrated by its public 
officers, they are the offenders and they alone 
are responsible. 

Our Government is a compound Government ; 
in part national, and in part federative. It is 
national in respect to the operation of its powers 
upon the individual citizens, in their individual 
capacities; and in' respect to the foundation on 
which it is established, the ratification of the 
Constitution by the people. It is national in the 
manner of the choice of the House of Represen- 



17 

tatives ; and federative in the constitution of the 
Senate, and in its j)articipation in tlie three <i;reat 
de])artnients of constitutional power. It is na- 
tional in the element that the Constitution and 
the constitutional laws of the United States 
are the supreme law of the land. It is partly 
national and partly federative in the mode of the 
election of the President. Both houses of Con- 
gress represent at the same time both the whole 
people and all the States of the Union. The 
Federal Government is called a dual govern- 
ment, Ijecause it shares governmental powers with 
the States. Its jurisdiction extends to certain 
enumerated ol:)jects, connected with the general 
welfare of the whole people. The powers of the 
States relate to local and municipal subjects — 
the lives, liberties and properties of the ^^eople, 
and the internal order, improvement and pros- 
perity of the State. The States move in interior 
circles; the general government in an outer 
comprehensive circle, embracing all the States, 
binding them together in a compact union, and 
creating a political oneness — a national unit. 
The line of demarcation between the two juris- 
dictions, is clearly defined and perfectly distinct. 



18 

There is no antagonism between them. The 
relation is one of perfect adaptation. The powers 
delegated and those reserved can under no cir- 
cumstances collide, if constitutionally exercised. 
The two departments of political power, State 
and National, are harmonious and co-operative. 
They invigorate, fortifv and sustain each other. 
The States operating within their own spheres, 
exercising political power in respect to all local 
and internal matters, and maintaining domestic 
tranquility within their respective territorial 
limits, the general Government is left to gather 
up and husband its national powers to defend the 
Union, provide for the common defence, and pro- 
mote the general welfare. The States are neces- 
sary and essential parts of our com23ound and dual 
Government. They, and the powers reserved 
to them, are indisjDensable to its perpetuity. 
With the States obliterated, and their pow- 
ers transferred to the general Government, 
and jurisdiction committed to it, over all local 
and municipal matters, as well as those of gen- 
eral and national interest, with but one Leg- 
islature and one Executive, the general Gov- 
ernment would not outlive a single generation, 
unless clothed with despotic power, and having 



19 

the support of a great standing army to maintain 
its authority. Thus the price of consolidation 
"Nvouhl he the surrender of civil and political 
liherty ; and the eipiivalent for our present bene- 
ficent Government, would be a military despot- 
ism — with its provincial satraps and cohorts of 
provost marshals, and their concomitants, — mili- 
tary trials, — perpetual suspension of the writ of 
habeas corpus, — -the censorship of the Press, — 
and the abolition of the trial by jury and the 
freedom of speech. 

The American people have, of all nations on 
the earth, the greatest possible cause for grati- 
tude to Almighty God, for his bestowal upon them 
of a system of government, of all others the best 
adapted to create and preserve national unity; 
and to secure domestic tranquility and the bless- 
ings of regulated liberty to them and their pos- 
terity. And yet, apparently unconscious of the 
priceless value, and the inherent vitality of this 
government, and of its self-sustaining power, we 
find scholars and statesmen still regarding our 
political union as in danger of disruj)tion from 
the feebleness of the political bonds which bind 
it together. We see that they have derived no 
instruction from the triumphant vindication by 



20 

our Government of its own autliority, which, 
within a few months has crowned its resistance 
to the most formidable rebellion which ever per- 
illed the life of a nation. Blind to the recent 
experimental Avorkings of this government, they 
continue skeptics in its adaptability to the per- 
petuation of American nationality, and pronounce 
the opinion that State Rights are still the rock 
of danger upon which, unless they are removed, 
our Union will be wrecked. 

Let us turn for a moment from political trans- 
cendentalists — dogmatising innovators — men 
either with minds unsettled by the spirit of in- 
tense partisanship, or who are the slaves of a 
single idea, and are madly pushing onward to 
its realization, reckless of the damage to greater 
ideas, and to the political confusion and anarchy 
into which they are plunging the complicated 
machinery of our compound Government. Let 
us turn from these to the great Fathers of our 
E-epublic, to the glorious men trained up by Al- 
mighty God to achieve our independence, and 
who, by his aid, did achieve it, and h^amed that 
incomparable and matchless system of civil gov- 
ernment under the beneficent auspices of which 
we have advanced from the feebleness of infancy 



21 

to the vast proportions of the lejidiiig nation on 
the globe. Let ns turn to these men, and borrow 
from their wisdom to guide us in the present in- 
teresting crisis. 

What was Washington's opinion of the Consti- 
tution and Government of the United States ? 
He regarded the Constitution as the "precious 
depositor}^ of American happiness." He appeal- 
ed Avith aflectionate earnestness to his fellow- 
citizens to maintain it; to so carefully preserve 
it, so prudently use this blessing " as to acquire 
to them the glory of recommending it to the ap- 
j)lause, the affection and adoption of every nation 
which is yet a stranger to it ;" and he urged 
upon them that " the Government, the offspring 
of their own choice- — in the distribution of its 
powers uniting security with energy ^ — had a just 
claim to their confidence and support." And what 
did John Adams, his successor, think of this Con- 
stitution ? He said, " as an experiment, it was 
better adapted to the genius, character, situation 
and relations of this nation and country, than 
any which had either been proposed or suggest- 
ed ;" and he exhorted his countrymen to " fortify 
and cling to their political institutions, and resist 
with unabating perseverance the progress of those 



22 

dano;erous innovations which mioht diminish 
their influence." Jefferson dechired that " the 
Government was the strongest Government on 
earth ; " that its essential principles were " the 
support of the State governments in all their 
rights, as the most competent administrations for 
our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks 
against anti-republican tendencies ; and the pres- 
ervation of the general Government in its whole 
constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our 
jDeace at home and safety abroad ; " that " to keep 
within the pale of our constitutional powers, and 
to cherish the Federal Union as the only rock of 
our safety," were landmarks by which we were 
to i>uide ourselves. Madison savs, in his fifth 
annual message, that " the war (of 1812) has 
proved that our free Government, like other free 
Governments, though slow in its early move- 
ments, acquires in its progress, force proportioned 
to its freedom, and that the union of these States, 
the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and 
of each, is strengthened by every occasion that 
puts it to the test." Again, in a subsequent mes- 
sage he says, " We can rejoice in the proofs given 
that our political institutions, founded in human 
rights and framed for their preservation, are 



23 

equal to the f<everest trials of war, as well as 
adapted to the ordinary periods of repose." 
Monroe, in his inaugural, speaks of the wise par- 
tition of power hetween the General and the 
State governments, and of the protection of the 
latter hy the former against foreign dangers; 
and says " that the Government is adequate to 
every purpose for which the social compact is 
formed ; " that " it is equal to the greatest trials 
of w^ar under the most unfavorahle circumstan- 
ces ; " and that never was the success of a Gov- 
ernment so complete. After a generation liad 
passed away since the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion, John Quincy Adams entered upon his pres- 
idential term of office, and, speaking for a later 
generation, adds his testimony to that of all his 
predecessors, in favor of the permanent excel- 
lence of the Constitution and general govern- 
ment ; and tells us " that the great result of this 
experiment upon the theory of human rights has 
been crowned with success equal to the most 
sanguine expectations of its founders" — "that 
union, justice, tranquility, the common defence, 
the general welfare, and the l)lessings of liberty 
— all have been promoted by the Government 
under which we have lived,"—" that the general 



24 

government of the Union and the separate gov- 
ernments of the States are all sovereignties of 
legitimated powers ; fellow servants of the same 
masters, nncontroUed within their respective 
spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon 
each other," — that we are admonished by the 
collisions of party spirit, " to preserve alike and 
with equal anxiety, the rights of each individual 
State in its own government, and the rights of 
the whole nation in that of the Union." He says 
" to respect the rights of the State governments 
is the inviolable duty of that of the Union ; the 
government of every State will feel its own obli- 
gation to respect and preserve the rights of the 
whole." These words were from the pen of one 
of the most accomplished scholars, statesmen, 
writers, and orators the United States or the 
world ever produced — he who was called in after 
years " the old man eloquent." Every opinion 
as thus expressed by him, was reiterated by his 
successor, Jackson, and were the opinions of all 
his predecessors. Statesmanship had been the 
study of his life. He was a statesman in the 
largest sense of the term ; theoretical and prac- 
tical ; familiar with the science of government, — • 
with the political history of every nation, since 



25 

the beginning of time ; with constitutional juris- 
prudence and international law ; with the genius, 
character, haljits, condition, and opinions of the 
American people; and with the practical work- 
ings of our political system. You have seen what 
were the opinions of this great man; and espe- 
cially as to the partition of powers between the 
General and the State governments, and the 
legitimate rights of the States. He did not 
regard these rights as "a dogma and delusion" — 
" a pestilent pretension " — " a lying name " — 
" as the bane of the American States" — " as the 
rock of danger to American nationalitv." 

No; it was reserved for modern pretenders to 
statesmanship — for sciolists in political philoso- 
phy and in constitutional jurisprudence — for 
j)olitical partisans and one-idea philosophers — for 
consolidationists — for the advocates of a strong 
government, republican in name, but monarch- 
ial in substance ; — it was reserved for the arro- 
gance of such as these, to attempt to controvert 
the opinions of the grand and glorious statesAen 
whose names I have mentioned. It is not neces- 
sary to add, that the attempt is as abortive as it 
is presumptuous. 
4 



26 

This class of politicians, wlio array themselves 
against the illustrious men whose opinions in 
relation to the National Constitution and the 
partition of powers hetween the General and 
State Governments I have given, have no re- 
spect, no reverence for the Constitution. They 
profess to see in it incurahle defects. 

An article, of July, 18G4, in a leading Boston 
periodical, entitled " The Constitution and its 
Defects," represents their opinions and peculiar 
political philosophy. This article speaks deri- 
sively of what is called in it " Constitution-w^or- 
ship," and " excessive reverence for the Consti- 
tution." It pronounces the Constitution a fail- 
ure ; because, as it alleges, it was not able to 
prevent a disruption of the Union. It commends 
the higher law doctrine, and declares that there 
should be a re-distribution of j^olitical powers 
between the General and State Governments ; 
that a larger share should be allotted to the 
former, and that the whole doctrine of State 
Sovereignty might be swept away without preju- 
dice to our liberties. 

If the preparation of this article had been de- 
layed until July, 18G5, the public would probably 
never have seen it; as ^Drevious to that date it 



27 

had been demonstrated by the logic of facts, that 
the Constitution was no faihire, and that its 
])()Aver was ample to maintain the Union, under 
any and all supposable circumstances. 

This class of politicians, to whom I have re- 
ferred, may be designated as political transcen- 
dentalists. They affiliate with the New England 
theological transcendentalists. Both profess to 
be illuminated by a new philosophy — a new rev- 
elation, — the former in the science of govern- 
ment, and the latter in theology. 

This transcendental philosophy, whether po- 
litical or theological, goes beyond the boundaries 
of human knowledge, and expatiates in the 
shadowy regions of imaginary truth. It teaches 
a hilse philosophy. It is alike hostile to the 
spirit of the Gospel and the free institutions 
of our country. It unsettles the foundations of 
religious belief, and expels from the minds of 
the people their love for, and confidence in our 
system of government; the best calculated of 
any system ever suggested to maintain the Un- 
ion, and make the American people a great, 
happy, and prosperous nation. 

The result of the bloody conflict in which we 



28 

have been engaged, has furnished us conclusive 
evidence of the cohesiveness of the States in the 
Union created by the Constitution ; and of the ir- 
resistible power of that Constitution to assert its 
jurisdiction over every delinquent State, and 
over every Territory of the United States. 
And when Slavery, the only disturbing element, 
is thoroughly eliminated, these States will pre- 
sent the most sublime spectacle of political, 
social, and religious homogeneity, which hist- 
ory records, or the sun ever shone upon. 

The logic of the events crowded into the last 
four years of our history, demonstrates the sta- 
bility, as well as the inherent strength and vigor 
of our Government ; and dissipates all the fears 
which have been entertained in respect to its 
permanency. 

The political example and fall of other repub- 
lics should have no terrors for us ; for there is 
no analogy between their political condition 
and ours. 

It has been insisted with earnestness, that we 
have " a complete exemplar in the States of 
Greece ;" that autonomy was the bane of Greece; 
and that the doctrine of State rights and State sov- 
ereignties, has been, and is yet, the rock of dan- 



29 

ger to American nationality. 1 can see no simil- 
itude between the small States of Greece, and 
the States of the American Union. The States 
of Greece were factious, turbulent, and jealous; 
they were disunited and discordant ; and when 
most accordant, united by no other bond than 
a league, or an alliance — Amphyctionic or 
Achaean. The American States are conjoined 
in a well cemented Union, created and held to- 
gether by the irresistible compression of a Na- 
tional Constitution. The States of Greece occu- 
pied a territory not exceeding in size the State 
of New York. The United States span a mighty 
Continent; and its opposite shores are washed by 
the two great oceans of the globe. The States 
of Greece were without God in the world; while 
the American States in numerous periods of their 
history, have enjoyed the protection and the 
smiles of an overruling Providence. We cer- 
tainly have nothing to fear from any such auton- 
omy, as was the bane of Greece; for none such is 
to be found in the Constitution of the States of 
the American Union. 

We are now at peace among ourselves, and 
with all the world. The temple of Janus as to 
us is closed. Blessed be God for the same. 



30 

Our swords are being beaten into plongli shares, 
and our spears into pruning hooks ; and may the 
universal prayer go up from all our hearts, on 
this happy day, that never again in all the fu- 
ture of our history, may it be necessary for the 
citizens of our glorious Republic, to lift up the 
sword against each other. In the words of John 
Quincy Adams, " now the future is all before us, 
and Providence is our guide." Let our prayers 
ascend daily to the throne of the Father of our 
spirits, that he vouchsafe to be near this people, 
to watch over and protect them as he did their 
fathers ; that he give them grace to learn right- 
eousness ; and that he continually teach them 
how to serve him, and how to discharge all 
their obligations ; to cultivate the spirit of 
fraternity and justice, the spirit of truth and 
mercy ; and may they learn that the only per- 
manent security for our Government, and for 
public tranquility and order, is the influence of 
Christianity upon the hearts of the people. 

It is a self-evident proposition that the only 
durable foundation of a free government is the 
virtue of the peoj)le, — a virtue which is the fruit 
and the oftspring of the joint-teachings of religion 
and moralitv. The stability of the Government 



31 

iniist (iepeiul upon the stabiUtij ol' this virtue in 
the pe<)i)le. Let us see to it then, as our ^reat 
and imperative duty, tliat the schoolmaster is 
continually abroad, and that the mission of our 
divine master is systematically, perseveringly, 
earnestly, and enthusiastically prosecuted, on 
every parallel of latitude, and every line of lon- 
gitude in our vast National domain. Not a fish- 
erman's hut, on the rivers, lakes, or oceans, not 
a shanty on the prairies, nor a log liouse upon 
the mountains, should want a bible or the means 
of rudimental instruction. 

My Fellow Citizens, we have assembled to-day 
for the purpose of a double celebration, — the birth 
of our National independence, and the triumph 
of our arms over rebellion, succeeded by the res- 
toration of peace. 

During four ^^ears, civil war has been drench- 
ing our fair fields with fraternal blood. A law- 
less and wicked rebellion, gigantic in its proj^or- 
tions, instigated and martialled by disappointed 
politicians, has raised its gorgon head and assail- 
ed the life of the Constitution and the integrity 
of the Union. It has brought sorrow to the 
homes of hundreds of thousands of our people, 
and sacrificed in its fury a quarter of a million 



32 

of the lives of loyal men, who had gone forth to 
the battle field in defence of the Constitution and 
the Union. It has spread havoc and desolation 
broadcast over the States in rebellion. Their 
blasted fields, consumed ha])itations, ruined in- 
habitants, and the graves of slain warriors, indi- 
cate the theatre of the bloody conflicts, and the 
marches of the contending hosts. 

An Almighty hand has conducted us in safety 
through this terrible conflict. Under his over- 
ruling providence, the bravery of our armies and 
the genius, wisdom, prudence, energy and 
skill of our generals have achieved resplend- 
ent victories, over a brave, gallant and formida- 
ble foe ; coerced the surrender of all the armed 
forces of the enemy; and given to us a vindi- 
cated Constitution, a restored Union, and honor, 
glor}^, and peace. 

One of the most beneficent fruits, nay, the 
crowning triumph of these victories, is the crush- 
ing out of existence, never to be resurrected, of 
the accursed and disinteoratino- doctrine of nul- 
lification and secession. 

Fellow Citizens — This should be a happy and 
joyous day to us all. Under other circumstances 
our joy would be enthusiastic and hilarious. But 



33 

now a gentle sadness steals into our minds, and 
tinges with melancholy all our thoughts. The 
memory of the numerous dead, a great congre- 
gation, all lives given to their country — is present 
with us here. And rising above all in solemn 
magnitude is a great special grief, which thrusts 
itself upon us, and infuses into our hearts the spirit 
of heaviness. Our great triumph was heralded 
and accompanied by a great sorrow. Beautiful 
was the thought exj^ressed recently in one of our 
churches, that it seemed to be an ordering of 
Providence, that a great blessing should be sanc- 
tified by a great sacrifice. The sacrifice here, 
and the great sorrow, was the diabolical assassina- 
tion of our lamented President. Under the able 
and sagacious administration of Abraham Lincoln, 
the war was conducted with various successes 
and defeats, until a succession of victories and 
superior forces, compelled Gen. Lee to surrender 
to Gen. Grant ; and the deadly struggle was in 
near approximation to its termination. Peace 
was certain soon to crown the arduous labors of 
the President, with complete success ; and he 
doubtless was anticipating the happy hour, when 
every armed foe should have disappeared from 



^ 



34 

the field, and he t^honkl receive the jubiLant con- 
gratulations of his countrymen. At this precise 
moment, the hand of the assassin interposed, and 
thrust aside the victorious wreath, about to be 
placed by grateful hands upon his brow. Bless- 
ed and sweet Avill ever be the memory of his 
good deeds. The amenities and the kind hearted- 
ness of his every day life, will be placed in our 
hearts and kept there as part of its richest treas- 
ures. Many are the lives of the poor soldiers 
whom he respited from death, in response to the 
weeping importunities of wdves, mothers, and 
daucfhters. His niercv to these men as well as 
to many others, has ascended to heaven as a sweet 
incense ; and has doubtless secured to him the 
benefit of the rich reward, "Blessed are the 
merciful ; for they shall obtain mercy." 

It is one of the pleasing duties of the day to 
offer our tribute of applause to our gallant armies 
and their renowned leaders, who have achieved 
in the field the great triumph which we have 
assembled to celebrate. The prominent person- 
age in this brilliant galaxy of military chief- 
tains, (all now historic names,) and the cjaiosure 
of all eyes, is Lieut. Gen. Grant ; of all men the 
most modest and unpretending, but of all men 



possessing the highest chiims to pre-eminence. 
The best evidence of true greatness is modesty ; 
an humble and moderate estimate of one's own 
worth and importance. With what graphic truth 
can we apply to Gen. Grant tlie beautiful com- 
pliment of the speaker of the House of Burgesses 
of Virginia, to Washington; "Your modesty 
equals your valor ; and that surpasses the power 
of any language that I possess." John Quincy 
Adams attributes the success of Washington in 
his public life, both military and civil, to two 
properties happilj^ blended in his character, and 
constituting his highest excellence ; " the spirit 
of command, and the spirit of meekness." How 
admirably are the same qualities united in the 
character of Gen. Grant. Fort Donelson, Shi- 
loh, Vicksburgh, the battles of the Wilderness, 
and before Petersburgh and Richmond, are wit- 
nesses of his lion-hearted courage, his military 
genius and skill, his iron will, and his persistence 
in the pursuit of his purpose, denoting the fixed 
resolve from Avhicli there was no appeal, and no 
retreat. His vast comprehensive military com- 
binations culminated in the involvement of Lee 
in a net of stragetic arrangements, which com- 
pelled his surrender; and the ultimate surrender 



36 

of all the other armies of the rebellion. The 
characteristic magnaniinity of Gen. Grant, the 
index of a great soul, exhibited two sublime 
manifestations in his return to Lee of his sword, 
accompanied by a generous reply complimentary 
to the gallantry and soothing to the mortified 
pride of the latter ; and his immediate withdrawal 
from Raleigh on the delivery to Sherman of the 
disapproval of his first arrangement with Johns- 
ton, and leaving to him the sole honor of receiv- 
ing from the latter his surrender- — an honor to 
which he was preeminently entitled. 

The next prominent personage of this military 
galaxy who commands our notice, is Gen. Sher- 
man himself, — the greatest campaigner of the 
age. A distinguished British General j^ro- 
nounced Gen. Sherman, after his march from 
Atlanta to the sea, the greatest campaigner since 
the days of Napoleon, But if we compare Na- 
poleon's march from the borders of Poland to 
Moscow, 800 miles — his longest march — and its 
disastrous result, his retreat to France, with the 
loss of all but a remnant of his immense army of 
500,000 men ; — why may we not claim, that 
Sherman's successful march from Chattanooga by 
way of Atlanta and Savannah to Raleigh, about 



Oi 



the same distance as I'roiii Poland to Moscow, 
and its glorious consummation in the capture of 
Johnston's army, entitles him as a campaigner 
to rank at least as the equal of Napoleon. The 
original idea of this march, was Sherman's ; and 
its execution was as briliant as Avas its magnifi- 
cent conception. It demonstrated the greatness 
of his intellect, and the fertility of his genius ; 
the acuteness of his apprehension, and the un- 
erring determinations of his judgment. 

But Sherman is not only a fighter and a pro- 
found planner as a general, ])ut he excels also as 
a writer and a speaker. He can make his mark 
—emphatically his mark— with his pen as well 
as with his sword. x\ll honor to Sherman,— 
worthy, thrice worthy, his place by the side of 
his great commander, Grant. 

Burke's glowhig description of the descent of 
Hyder Ali upon the plains of the Carnatic, and 
his sweeping into captivity all its inhabitants 
"m a lohirlwind of cavalry, ^^ reminds me of Sheri- 
dan, the peerless cavalry officer of the Federal 
army. His tremendous charges, and his light- 
ning movements, can well be illustrated by the 
havoc and the speed of the whirlwind. His rapid 
advance from the west, and his splendid opera- 



tions against Lee, contributed essentially to his 
surrender. 

My Fellow Citizens, I wish that time allowed 
me to present to your notice, the names of all 
the brave and noble officers of our army of all 
ranks, nay, of the privates also, who hy their 
courage, endurance, patience, sufferings, and sac- 
rifices, have contributed to the overthrow of the 
rebellion and the restoration of peace. But if I 
should engage in this grateful task, the setting 
sun although now not far from its meridian, 
would find me with my labor of love not half 
completed. It would give me great pleasure to 
speak of Thomas and Mead and Howard, and 
Slocumb, and Hooker, and Franklin and Smith, 
and numerous others in my mind ; and it would 
be a pleasing, although a melancholy duty, to 
stop at the grave of Sedgwick, that model sol- 
dier and gentleman, and offer a trilmte to his 
cherished memory ; and to pause at the last 
resting, place of McPherson, and drop tears of 
regret for his untimely but glorious death on the 
battle field. 

Before I pass to my remaining toj)ics, I am 
desirous of addressing a few words of greeting 
and welcome to the officers and privates of the 



39 

lo-ltli Regiment , our regiment, who have recently 
been mustered out of service, and have returned 
to their homes among us ; as well as to the officers 
and privates of other regiments, who have re- 
turned under like circumstances. All of you 
after a faithful and honorable service in the 
cause of your country, have come back to resume 
the pursuits of private life. We welcome your 
return. We thank you for all you have done, 
all you have sufiered, and all you have sacrificed 
in defence of the Union. 

Soldiers of the 134th Regiment, your conduct 
in the numerous battles in which, under the com- 
mand of your Colonel, Allan H. Jackson, you 
have been engaged, has established your claim to 
the applause of your fellow citizens, and the 
gratitude of your country. No regiment has won 
brighter laurels than yours. We have heard of 
your bravery everywhere. We heard of you at 
the bloody battle of Chancellorville ; and shortly, 
after in that deadliest of fights on the first of the • 
three days conflict at Gettysburgh, wdiere three 
hundred of your number were led into action by 
your Colonel, and only twenty-seven of them 
escaped slaughter and captivity. In October 
1863, we heard of you again, with pride, when 



40 

forming a part of the command, which under the 
leadership of Hooker, " Fighting Joe Hooker," 
and in the advance, yon drove the enemj^ from 
Lookout Valle}^ ; and in the same valley with 
two divisions repulsed a spirited attack by Long- 
street. You were in the first line, the place of 
danger and of honor at the battle of Lookout 
Mountain, and Mission Ridge, and afterwards in 
November and December 1863, in inclement 
weather, and with insufficent clothing, and many 
of you without shoes, you made with the 11th 
Army Corps a march of three hundred miles for 
the relief of Knoxville — one of the severest cam- 
paigns of the war. You were with Sherman in 
his campaign- — that greatest campaign of modern 
times — being most of the time in the advance of 
his army. Yon took part in all the l^attles of 
that army during the entire campaign, from 
Chattanooga, by way of Atlanta and Savannah, 
to Raleigh. You were at the murderous battle 
of Rocky-faced Ridge, when occuj^ying the first 
line, you lost forty men and an officer, one- 
fifth of your number; and j^ou were again at 
Resaca, where with two other regiments you 
made a most gallant charge upon a battery of 
four guns, capturing the batter}', with many 



41 

prisoners. Your gallant conduct in the battles 
of White Hope Church, Pine Knob, Golgotha, 
Kulp's Farm, Kennesau Mountain, Chattahoo- 
chee, Peach-tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah and 
Goldsboro, added to the high distinction which 
you had previously gained. Often in the advance, 
and in situations where danger only was to be 
met with and glory to be won, at no time and 
under no circumstances did you fail to maintain 
the fighting character of your regiment, or the 
honor of our flag. All honor to the gallant 
134tli ! Again I say, welcome among us, and 
may your future lives be as happy and as pros- 
perous, as your conduct during the war has been 
honorable and glorious. 

On this day when all political differences are 
ignored, and when we all stand together upon 
the platform of the Constitution and the Union, 
justice demands that I should refer to another 
high military officer, who contributed much, very 
much, to the overthrow of the rebellion. I allude 
to the creator of the Army of the Potomac, and 
the hero of the peninsular campaign and of An- 
tietam, — George B. McClellan. Elaborate, con- 
certed, and systematic attempts have been made 
6 



42 

to shake the confidence of the American people 
in his generalship and patriotism. Military 
rivalship may have been an element stimulating 
the prosecution of these attemjDts. Their incep- 
tion is doubtless traceable to antagonisms in res- 
pect to the political policy of conducting the war. 
They did not originate with, or receive the sanc- 
tion of the great body of the political party, 
which supported the policy of the late adminis- 
tration. I have reasons for believing that a large 
number of the most influential members of that 
party, that the lamented Lincoln himself, and 
several members of his cabinet, retained their 
confidence in General McClellan as a military 
commander, unabated to the last. If the Wash- 
ington policy of non-interference with the general 
in command, subsequently adopted in respect to 
Grant, had been applied to McClellan, it seems 
to me, there can be no doulit, that the peninsular 
campaign, instead of resulting in a ftiilure, would 
have culminated in the capture of Ilichmond, and 
the acceleration of the overthrow of the rebel- 
lion. McClellan' s independent control of Mc- 
Dowell's corps, would have enabled him to sub- 
stitute success for failure, and victory for defeat. 
There is now no longer any purpose of partizan- 



ship to subserve, by withholding justice from 
McClellan. Let it be awarded to-daj. History 
will vindicate alike his patriotic devotion to his 
country, as one and indivisible ; and his claims 
to the highest rank of military cheiftains. Her 
verdict is inevitable. The civilized w^orld has 
alread}* pronounced it. Our national character 
for justice, truth, and gratitude, is involved in 
anticipating the verdict of historj^ and the glo- 
rious record preparing for McClellan, which will 
form one of its brightest pages. He Avill be 
awarded a place by the side of Grant and Sher- 
man, as one of the three most distinguished gen- 
erals of the war ; and the characteristic justice, 
independence and magnanimity of these, his illus- 
trious com23eers, will ratify this award. 

Fellow Citizens — I will call your attention to 
one other topic before I close, the responsibili- 
ties of the crisis in relation to the practical res- 
toration of the Union, and the rehabilitation of 
the Governments of the revolted States. 

This subject presents two questions for the 
consideration of President Johnson ; one in rela- 
tion to the political condition of the States 
whose citizens revolted against the Federal 
Government; and the other in respect to the 



44 

extent of tlie amnesty to those who have been 
actively engaged or implicated in the rebellion. 

As to the first question, I understand he has 
decided, that these States are not extinct as 
such, but remain members of the Union. That 
their functions have only been susj^ended by the 
usurping governments ; and whenever there are 
loyal citizens in these States of sufficient number 
for the purpose, they can reorganize legitimate 
governments therein; and such States when so 
rehabilitated will be recognized as States of the 
Union. And the President is now instituting 
proceedings to reorganize the revolted States 
under the Constitution upon these principles. 

My Fellow Citizens — You liave abundant reason 
for congratulation, that an overruling Providence 
continues to manifest his beneficent regard for 
your safety and your happiness, by giving you 
in the place of the lamented Lincoln, one who 
respects the Constitution, and declares his high 
determination to preserve, protect, and defend it. 
No man who is acquainted with his personal his- 
tory, can question his eminent qualifications for 
the high position he now occujDies. Cool, self- 
possessed, thoughtful, dignified, bland and cor- 
teous, he maintains up to the highest standard, 



45 

the official proprieties of that exalted office. He 
has been long in public life, and has had a large 
experience as a statesman. He is, beyond all 
doubt eminently qualified to meet and discharge 
the high responsibilities Avhicli have deyolved 
upon him — to work out wisely, leniently, firmly 
and successfully, the delicate and difficult task 
of the practical restoration of the Union. He 
has shown his disposition to deal generously and 
mercifully with a conquered and repentant enemy, 
so far as is consistent with the claims of justice, 
and the success of his policy of restoration. 

The President in this policy recognizes, as I 
understand, the yalidity and continuing obliga- 
tion of the laws of the revolted States, in force 
immediately prior to their secession ; except 
such as uphold the institution of slavery, which 
he regards as abrogated by the proclamations of 
the President, the acts of Congress, and the laws 
of war; or as annulled l)y the arbitrament of 
arms. And he feels constrained to assume that 
the abolition of slavery in respect to the insur- 
gents, is a legitimate result of their overthrow ; 
and hence, that he must make it an element in 
his policy of restoration. 

Upon the principles of the President's policy, 



46 

the laws of these States in force at the time of 
their separation from the Union, in respect to 
the elective franchise, and such as they shall 
constitutionally enact upon that subject after the 
reorganization of their legitimate governments, 
or pending the process of reorganization, will pre- 
scribe in their respective States the qualifications 
for electors of representatives in Congress. The 
Constitution of the United States j^rovides (Art. 
1 sec. 2,) that such electors " shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
numerous branch of the State Legislature." 
This jirovision in connection with the one 
(Amend, of Consti. art. 10,) reserving to the 
States all powers not delegated to the United 
States by the Constitution, commits to the res- 
pective States in express terms, the exclusive 
jurisdiction of the elective franchise. 

It is proposed by some of the advocates of the 
immediate extension of the ris-ht of suffraj!;e to 
all the freedmen of the revolted States, that 
Congress should refuse admission to the repre- 
sentatives of these States until they thus extend 
the elective franchise. In other words the 
proposition is, that Congress nullify and subvert 
certain essential and vital provisions of the Con- 



47 

stitution, and violate their oaths to support the 
Constitution, as coercive acts to compel the reha- 
bilitated States to grant the right of suffrage to 
the colored race. No conceivable proposition could 
be so indefensible and demoralizing as this. It 
is nullification in a more offensive form than that 
of South Carolina in 1832. South Carolina nul- 
lified certain revenue acts of Congress, upon the 
assumed ground that they were unauthorized by 
the Constitution. The nullification now propos- 
ed is of the Constitution itself, without any pre- 
tense of legal or constitutional justification. This 
nullification is a revolutionary act, and is a moral 
if not an overt act of treason; and the violation 
of the oath to support the Constitution which it 
involves, is moral perjury ; and the persons who 
counsel and advise and induce the commission of 
these acts, would be startled at being told that 
they are accessaries in respect to the treason, 
and suborners as to the perjury. The persons 
who advocate and recommend this nullification 
of the Constitution to accomplish the purpose 
avowed, are enemies of the President's policy of 
rehabilitation, and design to defeat it. They are 
doubtless the nucleus of a gathering opposition 
to the President's administration, initiated be- 



48 

cause his respect for the Constitution and his 
inflexible determination to see that the laws are 
faithfully executed, will not allow him to further 
their schemes at the expense of the Constitution, 
and of the tranquility, welfare, and security of 
the American people. 

The times are too critical to justify or excuse 
an attempt to introduce even a meritorious polit- 
ical reform, which will jeo2)ard the success of the 
President's plan of restoring the unity and na- 
tionality of the people and of the States upon the 
princijDles of the Constitution. 

In this anxious crisis, the patriotism of men 
will be accurately gauged, by the extent and 
earnestness of the unconditonal support they 
give the President's policy of restoring the 
Union. 

The problem of restoration is as difficult, and 
requires as much statesmanship, as that of the 
conduct of the war. All in solid phalanx should 
rally to the President's aid, and strengthen his 
hands in the great work in which he is now en- 
gaged ; of re-establishing not only the political 
oneness and nationality, but the fraternity of the 
American people. 

The remarks I have presented to you in res- 



49 

pect to tho proposition that Congress refuse 
admission to the Representatives of tlie Southern 
States until they extend the right of suffrage to 
the coh)red race, are made irrespective of the 
merits of the question of the expediency or jus- 
tice of such States granting such right to their 
freedmen, either immediatel}^ or when they shall 
he so educated as to he ahle to exercise the right 
with intelligence and independence. 

Upon the theory that the revolted States have 
continued integrant parts of the Union, as soon 
as their respective State governments are reor- 
ganized under the proclamation of the President, 
thej' hecome States de facto as well as de jure, and 
entitled immediately to exercise all the powers 
and rights of States, without any previous recog- 
nition by Congress. Congress has no power 
under the Constitution to prevent their restora- 
tion to the Union, or to prescribe conditions of 
restoration. Either of these acts on the part of 
Congress would be disintegration; which in- 
volves a like crime as that of secession. The 
Southern States have the same right to amend 
their constitutions as Massachusetts or New York. 
These amendments require no ratification by 
7 



50 

Congress. And where they are confined to the 
abolition of shivery, there is no pretense of a 
right of review hy Congress, under the provi- 
sion of the Constitution, that the United States 
shall guarantee to every State a Republican forui 
of Government. 

In respect to the extent of the amnesty to 
those who have been actively engaged or impli- 
cated in the rebellion, a powerful appeal was 
made a few days since in favor of lenity to the 
Southern people, by Maj. Gen. F. P. Blair, a sup- 
porter of the polic}^ of the President; a man of 
mark as a statesman and a soldier. One power- 
ful argument urged by General Blair in fixvor of 
lenity, was, that a majority of the Southern States 
had incurred no moral guilt ; for the reason that 
they were the involuntary instruments and vic- 
tims of the rebellion, having been overawed and 
coerced to participate therein, by the minority 
who controlled the political power and had in 
their hands the arms and the entire military 
force of such States. He insisted that it could 
not be asserted of any State, that a majority 
were in favor of secession ; and in reference to 
Virginia, the majority was 80,000 against it ; 
that the Union men of these States were true 



51 

and loyal to the Government ay long as the Uni- 
ted States protected them ; and that they re- 
mained so, nntil this protection was withdrawn, 
and they were constrained by the rebel govern- 
ments to take np arms in favor of the rebellion, 
or to give it aid and comfort. Citizens of a 
nation, yielding nnder sncli circumstances obe- 
dience to a usurping de facto government, are 
not responsible criminally, to the government 
to which tliey owe allegiance. And General 
Blair says, that the class of men who talk of 
exterminating the people of the south and oblit- 
erating their State lines, are those men who did 
not go down south " to help kill any of the peo- 
ple there, and who were careful not to go there 
as long as the rebels had arms in their hands to 
defend themselves." We must concede that 
these are cogent reasons in favor of lenity to the 
southern people. 

Mr. Gerret Smith makes a similar ap^^eal in 
favor of the south. He has been for years a con- 
sistent and eloquent advocate of the emancipa- 
tion of the colored race. He now, influenced by 
like motives of humanity which induced his 
support of emancipation, aj^peals for the exten- 
sion of mercy to the Southern people, including 



52 

those who heki in bondage tlie race for whose 
liberation he has so hjng hiborecl. 

Henry Ward Beecher is also an advocate for 
lenity to the South. Always courageous and 
direct in assailing an adverse opinion, he meets 
the question of amnesty wdth characteristic frank- 
ness, and presents a forcible argument in favor 
of a general condonation of the southern people; 
extending it e.ven to the life of Jefferson Davis. 
Let us second the eloquent appeals of these dis- 
tinguished gentlemen. 

All the fighting generals of our army, whose 
opinions have been expressed, unite in the ap- 
peal for lenity. Sherman, with his characteristic 
energ}^ and earnestness, not only commends a 
generous treatment of the South, l)ut stigmatises 
as disgraceful to soldier or civilian the superad- 
ding of oppression and insult to an overwhelming- 
defeat. In these generous and noble sentiments, 
he represents the opinions and feelings of the 
army. Magnanimity and humanity are the hand- 
maids of true heroism. A brave soldier never 
tramples upon or insults a conquered enemy. 
The most magnificent feats of arms are attended 
and succeeded by distinguished acts of forbear- 
ance and kindness. The true knight first con- 



oo 



quers liis adversjiry by his prowess, and then 
wins his heart by his princely courtesy. The 
popuhir heart of the North sympathises with 
these sentiments. It thirsts not for the bhjod of 
southern rebels. It has been sickened, grieved, 
and agonized -by the immense waste of human 
life, in I /us vnna ural war. It now yearns for peace 
— perpetual peace- — domestic tranquility, and the 
restoration of the fraternal as well as the j^oliti- 
cal relations between the North and South. If 
it is suggested that further punishment should be 
intlicted upon the insurgents, the answer is, they 
have been already grievously punished. They 
are the victims as well as the authors of the war; 
a war which has more than decimated their arms- 
bearing popidation ; which has devastated their 
plantations ; consumed their hal)itations ; demo- 
lished their public works, and destroyed their 
property. The interest in slavery forfeited, 
alone, exceeds three' thousand millions of dollars. 
The insurrectionary States environed by sea and 
land, with powerful Federal armies in the heart 
of their territory ; their commerce, foreign and 
domestic, destroyed; their staples seized, and 
reproduction impossible ; the entire population 
have been reduced to poverty, and the whole in- 



54 

sursent territory involved in universal distress 
and ruin. 

The two principal issues involved in the con- 
flict were secession and slavery. Both are now 
dead — abolished by the triumph of the Union 
arms. And it is a cheering augury of our coun- 
try's future, that the insurgent leaders, military 
and civil, and the entire southern population, 
adopt this result as an irreversible finality; and 
manifest a willingness and readiness to accept 
the amnesty of the President upon the terms 
proposed, and to co-operate w4th him in the 
execution of his plan of restoration. Shall 
we give his plan our support ? The pop- 
ular voice North and South is evidently in its 
favor. Wisdom and patriotism demand its adop- 
tion. A restoration of the Union upon the Pre- 
sident's princij^les, with the free assent and con- 
currence of the South, will be a restoration upon 
an imperishable foundation; — the beneficent 
principles of the Constitution — the fraternity of 
the whole people' — the union of minds and hearts 
of all sections' — homogeneous institutions andcom- 
munity of material interests — although various 
and diverse, ^^et harmonious and essential to the 
highest growth of each other. Secession and 



bo 



slavery being expunged, there will remain no 
elements of discord to irritate, alienate or divide 
the American people. The Union will secure 
the peace and safety of each and all the parts, 
against external and internal danger, and will 
furnish a guarantee of its own indissolubility. 
Such is the promise of the President's policy of 
restoration. Christianity commends it to a 
Christian people, as a beneficent plan of recon- 
ciliation and condonation, founded upon prin- 
ciples of humanity and justice, wisdom and 
patriotism; the fruits of which will extend into 
the distant future ; infusing new vigor into our 
democratic institutions, increasing the tenac- 
ity of the bonds of the Union, and giving us the 
assurance that the refraternisation of the people 
humbled under the judgments of God, will bear 
the promise of a purer national life, of a higher 
standard of public morals, of increased religious 
attainments, of a more earnest loyalty, and a 
livelier sense of every civil and political obliga- 
tion. Let our prayers daily ascend to the Su- 
preme Governor of the world, invoking the be- 
stowal upon our nation and people of all these 
blessings, and also of all other needed blessings; 



oG 

and especially supplicating that he would make 
us a happy, virtuous and righteous people. 

And now allow me to repeat the sentiment of 
Mr. Adams — -" The future is all before us, and 
Providence is our guide ;"— and I cannot better 
conclude this address than by adopting the sen- 
timent of Jackson — -" Our Federal Union ; it must 
be preserved," 



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